Safferz Posted May 11, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xmpYnxlEh0c#!" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> In 2005, author David Foster Wallace was asked to give the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. However, the resulting speech didn't become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we've ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education. We made this video, built around an abridged version of the original audio recording, with the hopes that the core message of the speech could reach a wider audience who might not have otherwise been interested. However, we encourage everyone to seek out the full speech (because, in this case, the book is definitely better than the movie). -The Glossary David Foster Wallace was a great writer, sadly he committed suicide a few years after this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alpha Blondy Posted May 11, 2013 ^ seems like he didn't take his own advice, ma istidhi? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Safferz Posted May 11, 2013 Alpha Blondy;948641 wrote: ^ seems like he didn't take his own advice, ma istidhi? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Reeyo Posted May 11, 2013 That put some complicated truths into a simple manner. Incredible, simplicity truly is the best form of knowledge. Awareness and the freedom to choose how you 'think' of real life situations. But the hardness to do is turn off 'default' way of seeing/hearing and processing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naxar Nugaaleed Posted May 11, 2013 that's a bleak outlook on life Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Safferz Posted May 11, 2013 Life is nasty, brutish and short. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Showqi Posted May 11, 2013 Don't be greedy, selfish, unappreciative person! Please u mahad celi ilaahaygii ku siiyey caafimaadka, ilaahaygii maskaxda iyo aqoonta ku siiyey, ilaahaygii kugu nabad galiyey wadan aanad ab iyo isir u lahayn Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Safferz Posted May 11, 2013 Showqi;948696 wrote: Don't be greedy, selfish, unappreciative person! Please u mahad celi ilaahaygii ku siiyey caafimaadka, ilaahaygii maskaxda iyo aqoonta ku siiyey, ilaahaygii kugu nabad galiyey wadan aanad ab iyo isir u lahayn It's a famous quote from Thomas Hobbes. But the point stands, the world is a bleak and terrifying place and the individual life is an insignificant blip in the endless expanse of time. I'm not sure what religion has to do with this except that some (many?) people use it as a way of finding meaning in that reality, and there's nothing wrong with that. The video is useful because it gives a rude awakening for those who believe "real life" is more than the banality of the everyday, and to help see the world in a different way through the recognition of and compassion for the other. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Safferz Posted May 11, 2013 I think that's the message of the speech You are not the centre of the universe. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alpha Blondy Posted May 11, 2013 THIS IS BETTER........ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naxar Nugaaleed Posted May 11, 2013 this was posted on Reddit by "thegreatestzenmaster" in response to a question about success. Kinda reminded me of this video No. Not quite. There is no point that you arrive at(success), where the difficult tasks stop being difficult, where they stop causing at least some suffering. However, there is a way to escape that cycle of working and working and working and feeling fulfillment and satisfaction only once you have succeed in your goal. And that is to find and derive that fulfillment and satisfaction from the process. To find it even when suffering through long hours of trial and error, when suffering through your workout even when you don't feel like being there, and even when you find yourself down and out. The truth of the matter is that there are two options. The first is suffer and suffer until you succeed and then you get to feel that sense of satisfaction which is often short lived. The other option is to derive that satisfaction from the process of everyday life. From something as tedious as doing the dishes or making your bed and even from the things which most people "suffer" through. To derive pleasure from the process is hundreds of times more satisfying than the short lived feeling you get from completing a goal. So you see, you can suffer day in and day out until you reach your goal or you can discover within yourself a way to enjoy trying and failing. You can find a way to enjoy overcoming your weaknesses that scream for you to eat that piece of cake and to skip your workout today. You can find a way to enjoy pushing through the tedium of doing the dishes and to find the pleasure in the process, even in those tasks you force yourself to do Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naxar Nugaaleed Posted May 11, 2013 ^ I thought so too Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Malika Posted May 11, 2013 Naxar Nugaaleed;948676 wrote: that's a bleak outlook on life That was definetly a cry for help! ciid fahantee muu jiriin maskinka. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Safferz Posted May 11, 2013 Malika;948725 wrote: That was definetly a cry for help! ciid fahantee muu jiriin maskinka. There's a passage in his novel Infinite Jest that's quite chilling: "The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. the person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be or you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains constant. the variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s the terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling “Don’t!” and “Hang on!”, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naxar Nugaaleed Posted May 11, 2013 Malika;948725 wrote: That was definetly a cry for help! ciid fahantee muu jiriin maskinka. lol maybe so, he seems to think that we have to either be miserable or otherwise iskawaal and tell yourself you choose to push through. Cadanka iskawaal wax kaga fiican ma arag. This guys needs to watch the show dirty jobs, full of people happy doing some crazy job or hang with some Africans, they tend to be happy yet have so little. FYI Safferz, don't go there with reinforcing some racial lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites